While many private universities in New Jersey are struggling, largely starved of state funding they once received...

... a public university in the Garden State has been chastised for a gross expenditure of public funds.

Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles were satisfied with a simple wooden table for one of the most famous meetings in the history of the Western World.

But Kean University reportedly spent a quarter million dollars for its new table.  The money for the splurge was derived from the school's operation in China, where the monstrosity was manufactured, according to media reports.  The head of the university's faculty union called this an example of the "lawlessness" of the school's administration.

Kean University's president certainly is a lightening rod for controversy as exemplified by these news stories:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/02/01/kean-university-president-faces-questions-about-his-academic-record

http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2014/11/kean_u_student_petition_seeks_firing_of_president_over_219k_table.html

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/04/farahi_weathers_storm_at_kean.html

https://www.change.org/p/kean-university-board-of-trustees-fire-kean-university-president-dahwood-farahi

 But President Farahi seems to be as resilient of Christ himself. who reportedly rose from the dead after three days in a tomb.

In case you are curious and haven't already seen a picture of the table:

It surely is a doozy. Perhaps it can be likened to King Arthur's Round Table, although like Christ's Last Supper, the legendary English venue hardly holds a candle to Kean's extraordinary piece of furniture.

I must say, though, the way the knights are garbed does echo academic regalia to a degree.

Anyway, I wonder what some of the cash-strapped, struggling private colleges in New Jersey might be able to do with that $250,000.  How about ten scholarships?  Or some badly needed paving and painting?  Too mundane, no doubt.